


To a River So Deep

by ZoeWiloh



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Based on a True Story, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Cuddling, Sleepwalking, pre-game, some blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 07:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18441752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeWiloh/pseuds/ZoeWiloh
Summary: When Noctis makes a total mess and hurts himself while sleepwalking, Prompto takes care of him.





	To a River So Deep

**Author's Note:**

> Just an idea I had, explanation at the end. Hope y'all enjoy. 
> 
> In the middle of the night  
> I go walking in my sleep  
> Through the jungle of doubt  
> To a river so deep  
> \- Billy Joel

Prompto and Noctis’ big weekend together had been over a month in planning. Between big school projects due, final exams, and Noct’s royal duties, their schedules had been slammed and the two friends hadn’t seen each other outside of school in weeks. But now papers were finished, exams had been taken, and Noct had pleaded for some time off for good behavior, so this weekend was going to be  _ awesome _ to make up for lost time. 

They had decided on staying at Prompto’s place for their little staycation. Their agenda included plenty of video games, movies, tv show binge sessions, and all the junk food Noct could manage to cram into his body while Ignis wasn’t looking over his shoulder and forcing him to make good life choices. All in all, a weekend of legend in the making. 

Friday night had been perfect. They had ordered in pizza and totally trolled the guy who delivered it by having _‘Crown Prince_ _Noctis’_ answer the door in his pajamas. They had watched movies - and provided their own full commentary throughout, the way movies were meant to be watched - until both of them passed out on the couch. Sleeping in a poor position had given Noct back pain the next day, so they mutually decided they would definitely sleep in beds the next night. Saturday had also been epic, with video games from their late morning waking hour until sundown and a movie marathon that extended into the early morning hours. 

It felt like Prompto had only just climbed into bed and shut his eyes when a loud crashing sound and a heavy thud pulled him from sleep. He shot straight up and looked around on instinct, adrenaline pulsing through him. The full moon was shining brightly through his window so he could see around him fairly well, and nothing seemed out of place. No unexplained messes, no unwelcome intruders, nothing grabbed his attention as a possible source of the noise.

Prompto was well used to being in his house alone, which while often lonely, was also exceptionally quiet and that part was nice. So a loud sound was concerning, to say the least. Just as panic was starting to rise, he remembered he actually wasn’t alone tonight, Noct was staying with him. His heart settled down to a more reasonable pace when he decided Noct must have gotten up to use the bathroom and that was the sound he’d heard. 

Anxieties soothed, he laid back down in bed and rolled to get comfortable. He was just beginning to drift back to sleep when he heard screaming. This time he launched himself all the way out of bed, now fully awake. He ran into his hallway, frantically feeling around on the wall for the lightswitch. The light finally came on, but the cries had since stopped and there was nothing to see in the hall. No other lights were on on the whole upper floor of his house, either. Momentarily stumped, he paused to drowsily think when the screaming resumed. He saw the door to the guest room ajar and ran towards the room at the end of the hall.

When he threw the door open and hastily turned on the light, he was met with a rather distressing sight: Noctis on his knees, surrounded by shattered glass, screaming, with blood on his hands, neck, and beginning to run down to soak the hem of his t-shirt as well. Noct showed no sign of having realized Prompto had entered the room or even that the light had been turned on. The screaming continued uninterrupted, Noct repeatedly moving his hands to his neck and feeling around desperately. Prompto had never seen anyone so confused in his life and it only kicked his fear up to a notch he had never before experienced and could have happily gone through his entire life without knowing he had. 

“Oh my gods, Noct, dude,” Prompto breathed out in horror.

Noct showed nothing to indicate he had heard his friend, continuing to cry out and sounding like he was going to hyperventilate in the not-so-distant future. Prompto moved slowly, telegraphing every step he took to give Noct plenty of chances to notice him and came to kneel next to him. Even sitting right beside him, Noct didn’t seem to notice Prompto was there at all. 

Prompto hesitated a moment before slowly reaching out to him. He knew that if Noct hadn’t noticed him yet, he probably wasn’t lucid and touching him would probably not yield the best results. But it was well past 4 AM and no better alternatives were coming to his mind, so he slowly reached out to Noctis, biting his lip in anticipation of his reaction. He laid his hand on Noct’s arm first, pausing before gently pulling one arm away from his neck and then the other one when the only response he got was a small jump. 

“Noct, can you hear me?” he asked skeptically. His friend still hadn’t acknowledged his presence and he was beginning to wonder if Noct was sleepwalking and not even awake right now. 

At the sound of his voice, Noct jumped a second time, now more violently, pushing Prompto away and leaning backwards away from him. He ended up falling onto his butt and threw his hands out behind him to break the fall, which just caused some stray pieces of glass to lodge in his hands. That jolt was what seemed to finally flip a switch in Noct’s brain. 

Freezing in place for a moment, Noct blinked slowly and looked at Prompto for the first time since he entered the room. He let out another startled cry when the pain finally seemed to register. His breathing sped up and he looked at Prompto with huge, helpless eyes. 

“Whoa, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

“I...I don’t understand,” he said in confusion. 

“Shh,” Prompto murmured, pulling Noct’s hands down from his neck again, Noct just staring at them in horror instead. “It’s okay. I think you were sleepwalking.”

“I...wha?” he responded, eyes beginning to dart around the room in panic. 

Prompto moved to wrap his arms around his friend’s shoulders, gently rubbing his back and whispering, “You’re safe, it’s okay.” He seemed to melt into Prompto’s embrace. 

“Blood,” Noct replied simply, unable to put together anything more eloquent. 

“Yeah, bud, I think you broke a lamp,” he whispered quietly. 

“I...sorry...I’m...,” he breathed out, trailing off. 

Pulling back to look him in the eye, Prompto reassured him, “No big deal. We all hate that lamp, absolutely hideous, you did us a huge favor.” Noct’s eyes somehow became even more confused at Prompto’s attempt at a joke. “Okay, okay, nevermind, you stay here. I’m going to get something for the blood. You’re okay, I’ll be right back.”

He ran down the hallway to the bathroom, where he grabbed a first aid kit and a few towels, wetting some of them before running back to Noct. Noct was back to staring at his hands blankly and he didn’t look up until Prompto whispered his name. 

“I don’t know what happened,” Noct murmured sleepily. 

“It’s okay, bro, we’re all good,” Prompto told his frightened friend as he kneeled in front of Noctis again, setting to work. First, he took the damp towels and gently wiped away the blood on his neck and underside of his chin. 

Now he could see what he was working with better. It was a relief to see that there weren’t actually many cuts; it looked much worse because of the way Noct had smeared the blood around in his panic. The worst of it was a couple long slices along Noct’s neck along with a few smaller ones scattered about, and he found himself breathing a sigh of relief that nothing important had been hit. 

He had intended to move on to his friend’s hands next, but he noticed a thin trickle of blood still coming from his neck. “Hey, hold this here,” he said tenderly, moving one of Noct’s hands to lightly hold the towel in place. He winced at the pain when he used his still-bloody hands and Prompto couldn’t help but notice that it was a little spooky how compliant Noct was being. Sifting through the first aid supplies, he wasn’t sure exactly how to best cover the long cuts since they were several inches long, but he settled on a few different bandages that he could put next to each other. 

Prompto swiftly opened all the bandaid packaging, laying them all adhesive side up on his thigh, then gently pulled Noct’s hand back down away from his neck. He worked as quickly as he could, smoothing each bandage down with great care. He then picked a few more smaller bandages for the few of the more minor cuts that looked like they needed it. 

Next, he turned his attention to Noct’s bloodied hands, carefully reaching for a fresh towel, dabbing the blood away. Noct hissed in pain and Prompto tried to soothe him by whispering, “You’re okay, you’re okay, we’re okay, everything is fine, almost done.” 

With the blood cleaned away, Prompto saw that there were still a few small shards remaining in Noct’s hands. He swallowed the curse bubbling up in his throat for his friend’s sake, not wanting to scare him. He had to dig through the first aid kit again and gratefully came away with what he was hoping to find: a small pair of tweezers. 

“I’m sorry,” Noct whispered softly, still sounding pretty out of it. 

Prompto winced at what his next task was and said, “Oh, buddy,  _ I’m _ sorry.” 

“Huh, why - aagh!” Noct began to ask and then cried out as Prompto dug the first piece out of the skin of his palm. 

“Shh, shh, I’m sorry, we’re almost there,” Prompto sighed softly. He had just a few more pieces to dig out, which he did in silence besides the occasional shushing sound to comfort his bewildered friend. The rest went uneventfully and he ran his thumbs over Noct’s palms to be sure he didn’t miss any glass. “Just gotta do a few more bandaids. You’re doing great.”

Noct’s head had begun to dip down like he was falling asleep and Prompto worked to finish his task. Unexpectedly, Noct gasped, yanked a hand away and felt around his neck again. His breathing sped up and he began gasping for air like he couldn’t breathe. “Crap, crap, no, Noct, it’s okay, please calm down,” Prompto said desperately. 

“What happened?” Noct whimpered in a tiny, shaking voice. 

“Just a little accident,” Prompto responded, trying to hide the way his heart felt like it was breaking. “Everything’s okay, let’s finish up and then we can get back into bed.” He reached out and took back Noct’s hand to place the last bandaid. He took a second to examine his work and nodded to himself, deciding this was the best he could do for his friend. 

Without a word, he stood and reached down to grip Noct’s forearms to help him get up. They stood like that for a minute, making sure Noct wasn’t going to fall back down. “Are y’...mess?” Noct mumbled. “Sorr’. I can...take cur’of it.”

“Nah, that can wait, just step carefully,” Prompto said as he led Noct around the scattered pieces and out of the room. 

Once out in the hallway, he tried to let Noct walk on his own but quickly realized that wasn’t the best idea. Pausing to think for a moment, he settled on turning his back to Noct and taking one of his hands and placing it on his own shoulder, then the other, like the world’s saddest conga line. He walked the two of them back to his own room that way. 

He led Noct to the side of the bed and reached to remove his hands from his shoulders and guide him into bed. “Prom...wha’ happen?” Noct asked again drowsily. 

“Nothing to worry about right now, bud. Just lay down,” he said, coaxing Noct into laying down and pulling the blanket up over him. 

Noct reached out quickly and grabbed Prompto’s wrist as he turned to walk away. “Pl’se don’t leave me,” he begged. 

“I’m not going anywhere, Noct,” he told his friend, lightly prying his panicked grip off him and moving quickly to circle the bed to turn out the light and climb in on the other side. 

He said good night to Noct, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he just rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around Prompto’s arm and curled around it, quickly falling asleep. 

Prompto was left lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, very much awake. His mind was creating a list of things he’d have to do the next day, including cleaning up the remnants of the smashed lamp, talking to Noct about what happened, and redoing the bandages since he just realized he forgot to put anything antibacterial on the cuts. Oops. 

Moving on from his to-do list, he just wondered about the guy curled up into his side. Noct had never mentioned sleepwalking before, but that had to be what happened, right? But he supposed if it was always this disorienting he wouldn’t want to relive that by telling others either. If he couldn’t get a straight answer he’d have to ask Ignis.  _ Shoot,  _ does Ignis know this happens? Would he be accidentally telling on Noct if he asked about this? He just wanted to know how to handle it if it happens again, but if Ignis didn’t know already that would end poorly for both of them.

His brain was going in circles, wondering what it was like to wake up somewhere other than where he fell asleep and the added horror of being covered in blood too. He hoped this wasn’t something that happened often; he wouldn’t wish this kind of traumatic event on his worst enemy and didn’t need a repeat for himself either.

Eventually, he drifted to sleep, Noct still curled around his arm. They slept in those exact positions until noon.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys liked it. This is based on something that actually did happen to me. I fell/fainted while sleepwalking and broke a glass globe lamp with my face. My parents found me on the floor in my room screaming and blood dripping down my chest. Fun stuff. I have a few scars left from it. 
> 
> Also the 'world's saddest conga line' thing is real too, when I need help walking because my POTS is acting up and I'm dizzy or wobbly that's how my dad helps me and that's what I call it. So yeah. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading <3


End file.
